Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-12-07
THIRST IN A CAVERN. /"
WE COME TO DAY AROUND THE
GOSPEL WELL.
WE PUT DOWN OUR PACK OF BUR
DENS AND OUR IMPLE-
MENTS OF TOLL.
THIS WELL rs d CAPTURED WE'LL

|
DIR. TALMAaE's SERMON SUNDAY, NOV. 9th
BRooKLYN, November 27.-This morning
at the Tabernacle, after explaining appro
pirate passages of Scripture, the Rev. T
| Dewitt Talmage, DID,, gave out the fol
lowing hymn, that was sung by the congre
cation with great heartiness:
| Buried in sorrow and in sin
| At hell's dark door we lay:
| But we arise by grace divine.
| To see glorious day."
The subject of the sermon was 'Thirst il
a Cavern" and the text: ''Oh that ont
would give me drink of the water Of tn,
| we'll Of Bethlehem, which is by the gate =
II Samuel xiii, Is.
| War, always distressing, is especially
ruinous in harvest-time. When the crop
are all ready for the sickle, to have then
| trodden down by cavalry horses and heavy
supply trains outlying the fields, is enough
to make any mans heart sick. When tht
last great war broke out in Europe, anG
France and Germany were coming into
horrid collision, rode across their COLDER
harvests, and saw the tents pitched. and the
trenches dug in the very midst of the ripe
fields, the long scythe of battle sharpening
to NOW down harvests of men in great wind.
rows of the dead. 1t was at this season oi
harvest that the army of the Philistines
came down upon Bethlehem. Hark to the
clamor of their voices, the neigbing Of theil
chargers, the blare of their trumpets, and
the clash of their shields!
Let David and his men fall backl The
Lords host sometimes loses the day. But
David knew where to hide. He had been
hro, in hot ~,
quisitive, and they know all about the re-
gion where they were born and brought up.
If you should 60 back to the old homestead
you could, with your eyes shut, find your
way to the meadow, or the orchard, or the
bill back of the house, with which you were
familiar thirty or forty years ago. So David
knew the cave of Adullam. Perhaps, in his
boy hood days, he had played ''hide-and-
seek" with his comrades all about the old
cave; and though others might not have
known it, David did. Travellers say there
is only one way of getting into that cave,
and that is by very narrow path; but Da-
vid was stout, and steady-headed, and steady
nerved; and so, with his three brave staff.
officers, he goes along that path, finds his
way into the cave, sits down, looks around
at the roof and the dark passages of the
mountain, feels very weary with the forced
march; and water he must have, or die.
do not know but there may have been drops
trickliDg down the side of the cavern, OF
that there may have been some water in the
goat skin slung to his girdle; but that was
not what he wanted. He wanted deep,
full-cold drink, such as man gets only ou,
of an old we'll with moss covered bucket
David rememb bered that very near that cave
Of Adullam there was such a we'll as that,
a we'll TO which he used to 60 in boyhood-
the we'll of Bethlehem; and he almost i'm
agines that he can hear the liquid plash oi
that we'll, and his parched tongue moves
through his hot lips as he says: "Oh that
one would give me drink of the water oi
the well of Bethlehem, which is by the
gate !"
1t was no sooner said than done. The
three brave staff. officers bound to their feet
and start. Brave soldiers will take even a
hint from their commander. But between
them and the well lay the host of the Philis
tines; and what could three men do with a
great army? Yet where there is will there
is way. and, with their swords slashing
this way and that, they make their path to
the we'll. While the Philtstines are amazed
at the seeming fool hardness of these three
men, and cannot make up their minds ex.
actly what it means, the three men have
come to the well. They drop the bucket.
They bring up water. They pour it in the
pail. and then start for the cave. '.Stop
with you swords! Stab them with your
spears! Stop those three meu!" Too late
They have got around the hill The hot
rocks are splashed with the OVERLOOKING wa.
ter from the vessel as it is carried up the
cliffs. The three men go along the danger
GUS path, and with cheeks flushed with the
| excitement, and all out of breath in their
haste, they fling their swords, red with the
skirmish, to the side of the cave, and cry
out to David. "There, captain of the host,
is what you wanted, drink of the we'll OF
Bethlehem, which is by the gate"
| A text is of no use to me unless can find
Christ in it; and unless can bring gospel
out of these words that will arouse and
comfort and bless, shall wish had never
seen them; for your time would be wasted,
and against my soul the dark record would
be made that this day stood before grea,
audience of SHINING, suffering and dying
men and told them of no rescue. By the
cross of the Son of God, by the throne oi
the eternal Judgment, that shall not bel
May the Lord Jesus help me to tell you the
truth to day.
You know that carrier pigeons have some.
times letters tied nnder the wing. and they
fly hundreds of miles-one hundred miles
in an hour carrying a message. So I have
thought would like to have it now. Oh,
heavenly dove! bring under thy wing to-
day, to my soul and to the souls of this peo-
lie, some message of light and love and
peace!
1t is not an unusual thing to see people
gather around a well in summer time. The
husbandman puts down his cradle at the
we'll curb. The builder puts down his
trowel. The traveller puts down his pack.
Then one draws the water for all the rest,
himself taking the very last. The cup is
passed around, and the fires of thirst are put
out; the traveller starts ON his journey, and
the workman takes up his burden.
My friends, We come to-day around the
Gospel well. We pnt down our pack OF
burdens and our implements of toll. One
man must draw the water for those who
have gathered around the well. 1 will try
and draw the water to-day; and il, after
have poured out from this living fountain
for your soul, l just taste of it myself, you
will not begrudge me ''drink from the
by the gate"
This Gospel well, like the we'll spoken of
in the text, is a we'll of Bethlehem. David
had known hundreds of wells of water, but
he wanted to drink from that particular
one, and he thought nothing could slake his
thirst like that. And unless your soul and
mine can get access to the Fountain open
for sin and uncleanness, we must die. That
fountain is the we'll of Bethlehem. II was
dug in the night. 1t was dug by the light
of a lantern-the star that hung down over
the manger. 1t was dug not at the gate of
Casar's palaces, not in the park of a Jerusa
lem bargainmaker. 1t was dug in o barn.
The camels lifted their weary heads to
listen as the work went on. The shepherds,
unat le to sleep, because the heavens were
filed with bands of music, came down to
see the opening of the we'll. Tue angels of
God, at the first gush of the living water,
dipped their chalices of joy into it, and
drank to the health of earth and heaven. as
they cried, "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace" Sometimes in oui
modern barns the water is brought through
the pipes of the city to the very nostrils OF
the horses or cattle, but this we'll in the
| Bethlehem barn was not so much for the